Basic Epidemiology

Study Designs in Epidemiologic Research

Thomas Songer, PhD

Modified by Supercourse team

Fundamental Assumption in Epidemiology

Disease doesnt occur in a vacuum
Disease is not randomly distributed throughout a population Epidemiology uses systematic approach to study the differences in disease distribution in subgroups Allows for study of causal and preventive factors

Components of Epidemiology
Measure disease frequency
Quantify disease

Assess distribution of disease

Who is getting disease? Where is disease occurring? When is disease occurring? Formulation of hypotheses concerning causal and preventive factors

Identify determinants of disease

Hypotheses are tested using epidemiologic studies

Types of primary studies

Descriptive studies
describe occurrence of outcome

Analytic studies
describe association between exposure and outcome

Basic Question in Analytic Epidemiology

Are exposure and disease linked?

Exposure

Disease

Basic Questions in Analytic Epidemiology

Look to link exposure and disease

What is the exposure? Who are the exposed? What are the potential health effects? What approach will you take to study the relationship between exposure and effect?
Wijngaarden

Basic Research Study Designs and their Application to Epidemiology

Big Picture
To prevent and control disease In a coordinated plan, look to
identify hypotheses on what is related to disease and may be causing it formally test these hypotheses

Study designs direct how the investigation is conducted

What designs exist to identify and investigate factors in disease?

Descriptive
Case report Case series Descriptive Epidemiology RCT

Analytic
Cohort study Case-Control study Case-Crossover study Cross-sectional study Before-After study

Ecologic study

Timeframe of Studies
Prospective Study - looks forward, looks to the future, examines future events, follows a condition, concern or disease into the future

time

Study begins here

Timeframe of Studies
Retrospective Study - to look back, looks back in time to study events that have already occurred

time Study begins here

Study Design Sequence

Hypothesis formation

Case reports

Case series

Descriptive epidemiology

Analytic epidemiology Clinical trials Hypothesis testing Cohort Casecontrol

Animal study

Lab study

Crosssectional

Descriptive Studies
Increasing Knowledge of Disease/Exposure

Develop hypothesis

Case-control Studies

Investigate its relationship to outcomes

Define its meaning with exposures Test link experimentally

Cohort Studies

Clinical trials

Descriptive Studies

Case Reports
Detailed presentation of a single case or handful of cases Generally report a new or unique finding
e.g. previous undescribed disease e.g. unexpected link between diseases e.g. unexpected new therapeutic effect e.g. adverse events

Case Series
Experience of a group of patients with a similar diagnosis Assesses prevalent disease Cases may be identified from a single or multiple sources Generally report on new/unique condition May be only realistic design for rare disorders

Case Series
Advantages
Useful for hypothesis generation Informative for very rare disease with few established risk factors Characterizes averages for disorder

Disadvantages
Cannot study cause and effect relationships Cannot assess disease frequency

Case Report
Case Series

One case of unusual findings Multiple cases of findings Population-based cases with denominator

Descriptive Epidemiology Study

Analytical Studies

Study Designs Analytic Epidemiology

Experimental Studies
Randomized controlled clinical trials Community trials

Observational Studies
Group data Ecologic Individual data Cross-sectional Cohort Case-control Case-crossover

Experimental Studies
treatment and exposures occur in a controlled environment planned research designs clinical trials are the most well known experimental design. Clinical trials use randomly assigned data. Community trials use nonrandom data

Observational Studies
non-experimental observational because there is no individual intervention treatment and exposures occur in a non-controlled environment individuals can be observed prospectively, retrospectively, or currently

Cross-sectional studies
An observational design that surveys exposures and disease status at a single point in time (a cross-section of the population)

time Study only exists at this point in time

Cross-sectional Design
factor present No Disease

factor absent
Study population factor present

Disease
factor absent

time Study only exists at this point in time

Cross-sectional Studies
Often used to study conditions that are relatively frequent with long duration of expression (nonfatal, chronic conditions) It measures prevalence, not incidence of disease Example: community surveys Not suitable for studying rare or highly fatal diseases or a disease with short duration of expression

Cross-sectional studies
Disadvantages
Weakest observational design, (it measures prevalence, not incidence of disease). Prevalent cases are survivors The temporal sequence of exposure and effect may be difficult or impossible to determine Usually dont know when disease occurred Rare events a problem. Quickly emerging diseases a problem

Epidemiologic Study Designs

Case-Control Studies
an observational design comparing exposures in disease cases vs. healthy controls from same population exposure data collected retrospectively most feasible design where disease outcomes are rare

Case-Control Studies
Cases: Disease Controls: No disease

factor present
factor absent factor present factor absent past

Cases (disease) Study population Controls (no disease) present

time

Study begins here

Case-Control Study
Strengths
Less expensive and time consuming Efficient for studying rare diseases

Limitations
Inappropriate when disease outcome for a specific exposure is not known at start of study
Exposure measurements taken after disease occurrence Disease status can influence selection of subjects

Hypothesis Testing: Case-Crossover Studies

Study of triggers within an individual Case" and "control" component, but information of both components will come from the same individual

Case component" = hazard period which is the time period right before the disease or event onset Control component" = control period which is a specified time interval other than the hazard period

Epidemiologic Study Designs

Cohort Studies
an observational design comparing individuals with a known risk factor or exposure with others without the risk factor or exposure looking for a difference in the risk (incidence) of a disease over time best observational design data usually collected prospectively (some retrospective)

Study population free of disease

Factor present

disease
no disease disease no disease future

Factor absent

present

time

Study begins here

Timeframe of Studies
Prospective Study - looks forward, looks to the future, examines future events, follows a condition, concern or disease into the future

time

Study begins here

Prospective Cohort study

Exposed
Measure exposure and confounder variables

Outcome

Baseline

Non-exposed

Outcome

time
Study begins here

Timeframe of Studies
Retrospective Study - to look back, looks back in time to study events that have already occurred

time
Study begins here

Retrospective Cohort study

Exposed
Measure exposure and confounder variables

Outcome

Baseline

Non-exposed

Outcome

time
Study begins here

 Strengths

Cohort Study

Exposure status determined before disease detection Subjects selected before disease detection Can study several outcomes for each exposure

Limitations
Expensive and time-consuming Inefficient for rare diseases or diseases with long latency Loss to follow-up

Experimental Studies
investigator can control the exposure akin to laboratory experiments except living populations are the subjects generally involves random assignment to groups clinical trials are the most well known experimental design the ultimate step in testing causal hypotheses

Experimental Studies
In an experiment, we are interested in the consequences of some treatment on some outcome. The subjects in the study who actually receive the treatment of interest are called the treatment group. The subjects in the study who receive no treatment or a different treatment are called the comparison group.

Epidemiologic Study Designs

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
a design with subjects randomly assigned to treatment and comparison groups provides most convincing evidence of relationship between exposure and effect not possible to use RCTs to test effects of exposures that are expected to be harmful, for ethical reasons

RANDOMIZATION

outcome
Intervention no outcome

Study population Control

outcome no outcome

baseline future

time Study begins here (baseline point)

Epidemiologic Study Designs

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
the gold standard of research designs provides most convincing evidence of relationship between exposure and effect
trials of hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women found no protection for heart disease, contradicting findings of prior observational studies

Randomized Controlled Trials

Disadvantages
Very expensive Not appropriate to answer certain types of questions
it may be unethical, for example, to assign persons to certain treatment or comparison groups

Review Questions (Developed by the Supercourse team)

Describe the link between exposure and disease Describe study design sequence Describe strengths and weaknesses of each design